skyfall
by Lilli89
Summary: Erin and Jay are going on a trip to Northern Wisconsin with their son. Only a few hours later a holiday turns into a nightmare...(sequel to "if we were normal")
1. Chapter 1

"Detective Halstead. Nice to see you", Jay was greeted by his sons class teacher.

"Terry went outside to the playground with his class. Mrs. Merwick decided to spend the last hour before the start of the holidays there."

"I'm just getting back from work. I wanted to pick up my boy to take him home. My wife is still at the station and I have to prepare some things for our trip to northern Wisconsin that starts by tomorrow", Jay explained, after entering the empty classroom of the elementary school.

"Oh, nice. By the way: Terry is talking a lot about you."

"Oh, hopefully only good stuff", Jay greeted the class teacher who smiled at him.

"Definitely. Let me show you something", she searched for a paper on her desk, giving him a small sheet of paper that made him smile.

"I gave them the task to write about their future plans. Most oft he kids wanted to become a firefighter or a doctor, but Terry chose to be a cop like his dad. But I think it's not only about a job. It's more about you. It's a long essay about your work and you being a role model", she smirked.

"He must be really proud of you."

"Can I keep that?"

"Of course."

Thats when the bell rang and a bunch of fourth graders entered the room.

"Hey, Dad", Terry called his father proudly without wasting time to introduce Jay to his whole class.

"Well, guys this is my Dad. He's a chicago police officer."

The kids applauded before they grabbed their bags, happy and excited for the days off.

"Come on, let's get you home, buddy", Jay took Terrys school bag, before they drove to their house.

"Mom is stuck with some files, so it's gonna be late."

Terry became quiet and it took some time until he started another conversation.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"I heard uncle Alvin talking to grandpa. He said that mom had a rough life and a hard childhood. How did he mean that?"

Jay swallowed hard, while carrying the groceries inside the house.

He said nothing, started to fill the fridge before he took Terry on his arms and put him on the kitchen table, so he was able to look him in the eyes.

"Listen, you have to know something special about Mom. Grandpa Hank is not her real Dad and not your biological grandfather. He took your mom in when she was 14. She lived on the streets before, because her own mother wasn't able to take such a good care of her. She was a street kid. This is when you have no home or no place to sleep. Her real Dad had to stay in prison, because he was really violent and bad, especially to your mom."

Terrys eyes widened in surprise.

"So grandpa Hank worked as a cop and he saved her. She was mixed in a lot of bad things, so she was able to start a new life then. And that's what she did. She became a detective to fight for her city. To make it some kind of a better place."

"Really?"

"Yeah, but this has to stay between you and me, buddy."

"Of course. Pinky swear."

"You got it."

Jay looked outside the house.

"Hey, how about you're helping me with some construction work on the garage later? I could use a hand?"

"Okay."

Jay turned on the TV when the phone rang. It was Atwater.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you about something", he took the call, not assuming that he made a terrible mistake.

Meanwhile Terry tried to explore the garden on his own.

He liked to help his Dad, so he thought about doing him a favor by starting earlier.

Minutes later a blood curling scream filled the whole area…

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"Terry?"

Jay ran outside like a maniac.

The first thing he recognized was his kid sitting in the gras, looking like a ghost at his hand that was covered in blood.

He also held his head and whimpered in pain.

"What the hell happened?"

He already started to cry, his lips trembling in shock.

"I don't know… I wanted to help… I…. started the sawing machine and then I fell."

Jay felt his own knees giving in. The kid was bleeding like hell. Obviously he was in a very bad condition.

"Come on. We have to get you to med", he took the grade schooler in his arms and ran in the kitchen to grab his car keys, before he put Nate on the back seat to start the engine of his SUV…

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"How is he? Is it bad?", Jay whispered after Will joined his little brother in the waiting area.

"Do me a favor and take a deep breath. I don't want to have a second family member in the ER", Will Halstead told the younger Halstead before he continued speaking.

"He accidently cut his arm and needs stitches. I know you look like a butcher right now but it looks more terrible than it really is."

Hearing his kid crying from next door, Jay looked up alerted.

"We are going for a CT scan on his head, but first we need to get his wound clean."

"Can I stay with him?"

"Do you think you're ready for it? You look pale, buddy."

"Will, he's my son. I have to."

"Come on. But watch out if you got circulation problems. I've warned you."

Nervously Jay entered the room, where his son way lying on the examination table, screaming while two nurses tried to keep him calm.

Dr. Rhodes looked up to Jay in confusion.

"Can you sit here and hold his head? Keep him as calm as possible."

"Daddy", the 4th grader cried, while Jay stroked circles on his forehead.

"Shhh… I know. It hurts. But it's gonna be a okay. We're here to get you some help, okay?"

"Awww", he cried, so Jay touched his other hand.

"Listen, buddy. Dr. Rhodes is going to stitch your wound. It's like ripping a band-aid of. It hurts first, before it gets better. If you feel the pain coming, you have to squeeze my other hand. Alright?"

Jay wasn't lying. Terry screamed that loud, that even Maggie on her desk was able to hear it.

Thats when Jay started to feel horrible. His kid went through hell but there was nothing he could do. Just staying on his side to soothe him as good as possible, while holding his hand when the wound dressing was put on his injury and Rhodes started to stitch it.

It was a long procedure with a lot of tears and pain.

At the end Jay felt much more worse than a week full of work at the station.

Exhausted he wiped the sweat from his temple while the nurse helped his crying boy to get up from the table.

"All done."

Still crying, Terry spreat his arms to show that he wanted tob e hugged.

Still wearing a shirt that was full of blood, Jay lifted him up, so the little boy was hiding his face on his chest.

"We have to make a CT scan. If that turns out fine, you can take him home."

"Okay", Jay agreed with Rhodes explanation before he carried his son to the neighborhood room..

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"His head looks good. No serious injuries. You can take him home. Looks like you can drive to northern wisconsin tomorrow. But you better watch what you're doing next time", Will explained to his brother, rolling his eyes.

"Normally you should be the one that tells other parents to keep an eye on their kids. Now it's the opposite. Crazy", Will warned his brother, before he gave him some tablets, identified at ibuprofen, in case the injury would start to hurt again.

"Don't tell Erin. Please. Not the whole story. She's going to kill me."

"Do what you have to do. But be lucky. Usually it had been a case for DCFS."

"What?"

"Jay, you can't leave a kid at his age on his own. This could have end really bad."

"But it didn't. He was in the garden. He just wanted to help me."

"You know what I mean", the doctor said, when Nate entered the room, a spiderman figure in his right hand that he must have gottenn from one of the nurses.

"Can we go now", he begged with puppy eyes, what made Jay to get up from his chair.

"Of course, big guy."

Following the whole hospital procedure Jay rolled Terry outside in a wheel chair before he lifted him up to carry him to the car.

He groaned, allowing himself to fall backward to the seat after he closed the doors.

Thoughtfully he watched his son from the interrior mirror.

"Buddy, helping me didn't mean to become a handiman and to work on your own", Jay started the conversation noticing that his sons eyes were filled with tears.

"I just wanted to make you proud. You should be happy to see that I finished some work when you came outside. I accidentaly fell from the roof, right into the sewing machine.

"Terry, I am proud of you. There is nothing you have to prove. And you know that you're not allowed to use some kind of equipment like this. It's really dangerous."

„I'm sorry", he cried horrofied. Thats when Jay couldn't take it any longer. He got out of the car, crawling to the back seat where he pulled his youngster into a hug.

„Never do something like this again. Promise me", he said, what he confirmed by nodding his head.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, folks. A big thank you for your reviews.

Sorry for switching between Nathan and Terry before.

I first wrote it with the name Nate and later I changed it to Terry. That's why I mixed it up sometimes.

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"This was my old lego castle, when I was your age", Jay pulled the bricks outside the box.

They decided to end the day by playing with lego, what finally seemed safer than doing garden work.

Terry was sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket while trying to put the bricks together with the help of the instruction.

"How is your hand? Does it hurt?"

„It's okay", Terry whispered receiving concerned views from his father who helped him to rebuild the castle, because working with one arm was really difficult.

With the time passing by they finished their construction and started watching TV.

Jay crawled next to his son. Finally the little boy snuggled on his fathers chest and fell asleep minutes later.

Jay already drifted away, when the door went open.

He tiredly got up from the couch without waking his son, walking to the floor.

It was Erin. Unaware of what happened, she smiled at her boyfriend.

„Terrys already fallen asleep? It's just 6 p.m."

Her eyes met with his old t shirt that was stuck into the basket. The floor was still covered with blood splatters.

She walked closer, staring at it with wide eyes.

"Jay, what happened?"

"Listen, don't freak out okay. He had a little accident. He touched the sewing machine while I was speaking to Atwater on the phone."

"He did what? Are you kidding me?"

Erin did a bad job to lower her voice.

Jay closed the door to avoid that Terry would be waking up.

"We just came home from the ER. It's nothing serious. He just needed stitches."

"Stitches? Are you insane? You had to take care of him."

"Erin, he's 9. We can't control him 24/7."

She didnt't anwer, just entered the living room, silently took a seat on the couch.

She looked at her son thoughtfully, gentely stroking his hair.

"My poor baby."

"Dad", the 9 year old whispered in his sleep, tiredly opening his eyes.

"No, big boy. It's Mom."

Jay stepped closer, sitting down on the other side.

"But Dad is also right here. See?"

Terry stretched his little hand to touch Erins fingers.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't want to cause you trouble."

"It's okay, buddy. Just go back to sleep", Jay whispered, sharing worried glances with Erin.

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"Are you still mad at me?"

"Great way to start the holidays", Erin told her boyfriend, crawling into their bed. Seconds later she smiled weakly, running her hand through his hair.

"You nearly got me a heart attack. I was just coming home and the next thing I know is the whole floor looking like a crime scene."

Jay gave her a devilish glance.

"Be lucky that nothing more serious happened. No ones messes with me, when it comes to my son. You better sleep with one eyes open."

"Woooh, I understand."

"I swear to you. No thrills during the next days. Just fishing, relaxing and swimming in the lake. And you're leaving your gun at home. Do you understand me? I'm not ready for another family adventure. No hunting with Terry."

"Let's see."

"Jay?! I mean it."

"I hear you. Maybe", he mumbled into his pillow and giggled when he felt Erin pinching his butt.

"Ouch."

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"Mom, when do we arrive at the cabin?"

"Soon", Erin rolled her eyes, answering the same question for the fourth time in a row.

"When is soon?"

"Two more stories of Tom and Jerry", Jay put another cd in the player, to avoid further questions.

Terry sighed.

"I hate driving. It's boring. And the bandage on my arm is annoying. I want to unroll it."

"You have to keep it on. Your injury needs time to heal and if the wound got dirty, there is a big chance that it gets infected."

"If there is a lake near the cabin. Can we go swimming there?"

"With your wound? How do we do that?", Erin wanted to know.

"When Oliver in my class broke his arm, his mommy used to put a plastic bag around it."

"Let's see, okay?"

Two hours later they took another way that leaded into the forest. Jay smiled when they entered the beside road. It felt like coming home. With him spending a lot of his childhood in Northern Wisconsin, he enjoyed being back with his own family.

"Mommy, Daddy! There is a bear. See?", Terry started to scream, forcing both parents to take a closer look at the area.

"It's a baby bear. His parents won't be far away."

"How do you know?"

Jay laughed, looked into the interial mirror to glance at his son.

"It's like in our world. Just like us keeping an eye on you, this bear family watch their kids to protect them."

" Implied that papa bear doesn't let his protege using a sewing machine", Erin hissed. Although Terry wasn't able to hear it, because she just whispered into Jays direction.

He said nothing, just concentrated on the street, until they arrived at the cabin.

Terry looked outside the window smiling with the toothless face of a thirdgrader.

"Wow, that's beautiful", he looked over the lake whose water glittered, warmed by the summer heat.

"This is gonna be great", he ran to his parents, helping to store the food and equipment.


	3. Chapter 3

"You've been quiet? Everything okay?"

Erin embraced Jay who looked outside the window, watching his son sitting in front oft he lake, playing with his lego spaceship.

"Does it seem like it would be?"

He refused to be pulled in a hug.

"I made a horrible mistake. I feel really bad for it and all what your doing is to make it more worse by telling jokes and showing me what kind of irresponsible father I am. Did you just think for a second what it did to me, to see my son covered in blood sitting in the gras, crying in pain?"

Erin looked at Jay in shock. He had tears in his eys and she felt so bad for teasing him about the whole issue.

"This kid means the world to me and I wouldn't survive to loose him", he screamed at her. Erin was speechless, unable to say anything.

"How could you think that I didn't care about him?"

"Jay, I'm sorry….I."

The situation was disturbed by Terry coming in.

Alerted by the noises coming from the house, he looked at his parents in confusion.

"Are you mad at me?"

There was a long silence, while Erin wiped her tears away and Jay took a deep breath.

"No, buddy. Mom and Daddy are just having an argument. It's okay."

He denied, shaking his head and made some steps back to the door.

"No, it's not. It's all my fault."

"Nate!", Jay tried to talk to hiss on, but the grade schooler walked outside, running to the meadow, where him and Jay used to play with arrow and bow before.

"Great job", Halstead crotizised both of them, while putting the groceries into the refrigerator.

Quietly he put on his sweater, heading outside.

"I'll better look out for him", he told Erin, who just grabbed another tissue.

He already walked to the parking area, when he made a horrible discovery.

Nate wasn't there anymore...

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"Erin he's gone. I searched the whole are. All I found was this", Jay pointed at a map and foot steps in the mud , obviously coming from someone taller than their son. An empty bullet lying in the gras created horrible pictures in their minds.

Erins eyes met with the isolated part oft he lake, before she looked at the tracks again.

"What if he's drowned? Or someone abducted him? Those are new tracks. Jay, we have to do something."

Jay looked back at the cabin, before his concerned view met with the things, they found during their search.

Both adults were holding their breath, when they recognized crackles in the bushes.

Slowly Jay touched the back up gun in his pocket, one hand at the trigger before he finally pulled it out, aiming at a surprised men that held up his hands.

"Who are you?"

"I'm… Eric Myers. I'm just hunting in this area. Collecting some rare plants. I'm a hunter. Let me show you my licence", he stuttered, pulling out a small piece of paper.

Jay sighed. It was what he rode, he was allowed to work at this area.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen a little boy around here? 8 years old. Blue spiderman T-Shirt and green blue. We lost our son on the way. We're just hiking in that area", Erin lied, uncertain if she should really believe what she saw.

"Sure. But he ran away. It was like one mile from here. He seemed really angry. He was crying and I yelled at him to ask what he was doing here alone. But he ran away, said he isn't allowed to talk to strangers."

"I can show you where I've found him."

Jay faced the man with mixed feelings, but finally shook his head.

"No, we don't want to bother you. Just show me in the map", Jay requested and the man agreed.

He was looking at Erin. They only had one gun. If they would seperate, one had to stay unarmed. So, Jay made another plane.

"We've seen a lot of bears around this area. How about you keeping the gun while I'm searching for Terry", he gave Erin a meaningful glance, before he handled the weapon to her.

„Would it be possible if you could stay with my wife, until I get back?", Jay questioned, still having a really bad feeling. His feeling never fooled him. As a detective for years, he knew when a situation was dangerous.

Finally he had no choice. He didn't want to let Erin search unarmed, while he stayed with the creepy guy.

Even if he felt bad for leaving him with her.

Anxious and exhausted he walked closer into the wood.

The whole forest was around 9 hectars big and for a minute it felt like searching a needle in a haystack.

Then, a half mile later he recognoized crying. Noticing a small shadow near a wooden bothy, he started to feel reliefed.

"Terry!", he called hiss on who turned around, looking at him with crying eyes.

"Where have you been?"

"I don't know. I was lost. I felt so bad for causing you so much trouble. I thought mom and you would split up because of me. And before I could realize where I was… I walked deeper and deeper into the forest."

"Oh buddy!", Jay groaned, pulling his son into a bear hug, who was still crying on his shoulder.

"Mom and I thought someone abducted you. You know what we went through?", he kissed his forehead, before he took his hand.

"Did you meet this man too?"

"What do you mean buddy?"

Terry looked at him, scared in a way Jay had never seen him before.

"He is spooky. He was sitting on the ground, scooping."

"Scooping?"

"As he wanted burry something."

"Mom is with him."

Terry looked even more shocked at his father.

"I think he's not a nice guy. I don't know. He seemed really crazy."

"Come on, let's get back to mom. As fast as possible."


End file.
